[Maine-birds] Gilsland Farm Birdwalk + eBird workshop TONIGHT

Hey everyone:

It was quite a sight this morning to see how this cold has almost completely frozen over the section of the Presumpscot River that is visible from Gilsland Farm. This definitely limited our duck numbers today but it may have also helped with one species: 5 Common Mergansers were in the small section of open water at the base of the I-295 bridge. Common Mergansers are much more 'common' further up the Presumpscot but these were probably forced downriver by the closing ice and gave us a great side-by-side comparison with the more 'common' Red-breasted Mergansers. Here is a fun line graph showing the frequency of these two species at Gilsland Farm: http://tinyurl.com/oj8qhou

Other highlights from this morning's walk included: an adult Bald Eagle sitting on the icy river off the West Meadow (also limiting our duck numbers). A Northern Flicker, presumably the same bird from last week, continued in the West Meadow feeding on staghorn sumac. A pair of Eastern Bluebirds and half a dozen Cedar Waxwings in the North Meadow were a warming sight and helped diversify our color palate for the morning.

Here is a complete checklist from the walk: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S16305338

As MCO previously posted about, there is a fun new app available from the folks at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: Merlin Bird ID. By answering a few questions about the size, color, and behavior of a bird you see, Merlin will suggest a species likely to your area (using eBird data) and it does a pretty good job! I've been testing it on people coming through Maine Audubon today and it has come up with the correct suggestion on most tries. This is definitely an app for beginners as it is restricted to 285 common species in North America but I think it will be a great tool for anyone new to birding. Plus it is FREE! Download, enjoy, and share it with a new birder. More details on the app and a link to download it are available at: http://ebird.org/content/me/news/merlinbirdid/

And while I've got your attention, I just wanted to send a quick reminder that I'll be giving a workshop on using eBird tonight at Gilsland Farm, starting at 7pm. Details are online at: http://maineaudubon.org/events/birding-in-a-digital-age-part-two/


Good birding,

Doug Hitchcox
Staff Naturalist
Maine Audubon
207-781-2330 x237
dhitchcox@maineaudubon.org

--
Maine birds mailing list
maine-birds@googlegroups.com
http://groups.google.com/group/maine-birds
https://sites.google.com/site/birding207
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Maine birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to maine-birds+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.